Even before George W. Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, the amendment's potential impact was clouded by careless reporting. Some advocates claimed that the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment would permit states to allow civil unions for gays and lesbians -- a disputed interpretation that a number of media outlets failed to question. On February 11, ABC World News Tonight correspondent Terry Moran explained that the amendment "would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but allow states to establish civil unions for gay couples." Moran continued by saying that "some conservatives are unhappy that [...]
Feb
27
2004
ABC, NY Times Respond to FAIR Alert
On February 16, a FAIR action alert called on ABC World News Tonight and the New York Times to offer a more nuanced explanation of the possible effects of a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. While some proponents of the amendment claim it would allow states to offer same-sex civil union arrangements, some legal experts suggest that the vague language of the amendment could actually ban civil unions. In response to emails from FAIR activists, New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent wrote on his web journal: "I urge the Times to report on it more fully -- not [...]
Feb
16
2004
Amendment Deception Needs Media Clarity
(NOTE: Please read the update to this action alert) Backers of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage have created a misleading impression of their legislative plan-- a deception that some media outlets have not properly explained to readers and viewers. The dispute centers on the fact that some advocates claim that the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment would permit states to allow civil unions for gays and lesbians. On February 11, ABC World News Tonight correspondent Terry Moran explained that the amendment "would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but allow states to establish civil [...]
Jul
07
2003
Savage Homophobia on MSNBC
(NOTE: Please read the update to this alert--Savage has been fired by MSNBC.) When radio talkshow host Michael Savage was given his own show by the cable TV channel MSNBC, network executives said that the new show should not be judged by Savage's previous hate-filled remarks, but by what he said on the TV show itself. A recent outburst by Savage, however, suggests that the host's prejudice and hatefulness have not been constrained by his new venue. The incident started when a caller to Michael Savage's July 5 MSNBC show, Savage Nation, apparently tried to get some kind of prank [...]
Feb
12
2003
GE, Microsoft Bring Bigotry to Life
The latest hire by the cable news network MSNBC-- co-owned by General Electric/NBC and Microsoft-- is Michael Savage, a radio talkshow host noted for his unabashed bigotry. Savage is scheduled to have his own weekly one-hour show on MSNBC beginning in March. Savage routinely refers to non-white countries as "turd world nations" and charges that the U.S. "is being taken over by the freaks, the cripples, the perverts and the mental defectives" (San Francisco Bay Guardian, 9/20/00). In a recent broadcast he justified ethnic slurs as a national security tool: "We need racist stereotypes right now of our enemy in [...]
Sep
01
2001
Controversy, Not Credibility
A study of 'gay change' with the results media were looking for
Thousands of scientific studies are conducted every year, but only a fraction of these ever see newsprint. Even fewer dominate the news cycle for weeks, transform researchers into culture war commentators and move the public debate. At the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting on May 9, two unpublished, non-peer-reviewed studies offered opposing reports about the effectiveness and potential safety risks of "reparative therapy" to "convert" lesbians and gay men to heterosexuality, a practice long-denounced as unethical and futile by the APA and most mental health professionals. For one presentation, titled "200 Subjects Who Claim to Have Changed Their Sexual Orientation [...]
Mar
01
1998
Sex Panicked
Women Unheard in Sexuality Debates
The topic of sexuality received unprecedented news media attention in the 1990s--in part due to the AIDS crisis, in part because of a national fight to bring down centuries of legal, social and cultural bias against people who are bisexual, transgendered and/or lesbian and gay. In many year-end round-ups, the media remembered 1997 as a high-point for the acceptance of homosexuality--epitomized by the success of the ABC sitcom Ellen, which stars an out-lesbian actress in an out-lesbian role. In some other world, all the talk about the diversity of human sexuality and the damage done by demonizing difference might have [...]
Jan
01
1998
Rumors of Homophobia
Coverage of Promise Keepers failed to check the record
The "Promise Keepers" rally in Washington, D.C., was, if nothing else, a victory of public relations over professional journalism. Media coverage was decidedly skewed toward the shallow end of the press pool. At best, both print and broadcast journalists glossed over the Keepers' homophobic agenda. At worst, they supported it. Promise Keepers was founded nearly a decade ago by former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney. A notorious homophobe, McCartney championed Colorado's Amendment Two—a 1992 measure that, had it not been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, would have denied basic civil rights to lesbian, gay and bisexual [...]
